horse race
Americannoun
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horse races
plural
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a contest of speed among horses that either are ridden by jockeys or pull sulkies and their drivers.
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any formidable contest or competition.
The primary election is expected to be a horse race among four opponents.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Surge, Slate’s weekly politics newsletter for closely monitoring the horse race between Trump’s approval rating and the Washington, D.C., temperature in Celsius.
From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2026
For example, there have been no debates and none are planned at the moment, and the lack of polling means that horse race coverage is nonexistent.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
And so began their journey as what Islas calls “horse parents” — a journey that has taken them to the brink of starting a horse in the world’s most famous horse race.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2026
U.A.E. media circulated videos of royal family members and government officials walking through shopping malls and enjoying themselves at a horse race even as missiles and drones continued to fly in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
Oh yes, there were plenty to aid and abet him; even he could not have held a horse race without someone to race against.
From "Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
